The Tell
By Jeffrey Dreiblatt
Each time the word white goes unmentioned,
relief leaves a tic on our cheeks.
Despite well-patterned patter, we stare
for eight minutes and forty-six seconds.
Conversation starts —
I have to take care of our people, he says.
This is a poem about what I did to George Floyd.
For white people.
For white people,
this is a poem about what we did to George Floyd.
We have to take care of our people, he says.
Conversation starts
for eight minutes and forty-six seconds.
Despite well-patterned patter, we stare.
Relief leaves a tic on our cheeks.
Each time, the word white goes unmentioned.
Jeffrey Dreiblatt is a poet, visual artist and volunteer fire fighter. His work has appeared in The Dillydoun Review and Bindweed. He lives in Copake and Brooklyn, New York.